Love Is Series: Week Five

Not Rude or Irritable 

This week, while you meet with your Faith Formation Group you may want to reflect on our Scripture passage by reading Mark 2:13-17 (printed below) and discuss the questions from the Scripture and Sermon as a way to begin a conversation. 

Mark 2:13-17

Mark 2:13    Then Jesus went out to the lakeshore again and taught the crowds that were coming to him. ¹⁴ As he walked along, he saw Levi son of Alphaeus sitting at his tax collector’s booth. “Follow me and be my disciple,” Jesus said to him. So Levi got up and followed him.

Mark 2:15    Later, Levi invited Jesus and his disciples to his home as dinner guests, along with many tax collectors and other disreputable sinners. (There were many people of this kind among Jesus’ followers.) ¹⁶ But when the teachers of religious law who were Pharisees saw him eating with tax collectors and other sinners, they asked his disciples, “Why does he eat with such scum?”

Mark 2:17    When Jesus heard this, he told them, “Healthy people don’t need a doctor—sick people do. I have come to call not those who think they are righteous, but those who know they are sinners.”

Questions for Consideration:

1. After reading the story, take turns sharing what sticks out to you as important or significant.
2. Why do you think Jesus ate with “sinners?”
3. How does our church open itself to those who are “sick?” Or, are we only available for those who are “healthy?”  
4. What does this passage show you about not being rude or irritable? How can we implement lessons from this passage to become a more loving community?

As you meet this week, we encourage you to also take time to open yourselves up as a group and dialog on the following Wesley Challenge question:  Am I honest in all my actions and words, or do I exaggerate? (Pages 113-116 in The Wesley Challenge)